Crib blanket



Sept. 9, 1958 I w. L. FOEHNER CRIBBLANKET;

Filed April 3, 1958 r0 5 V 1a INVENTOR 44414 4. fsmvaz BY- warm ATTOR N EY United States Patent CRIB BLANKET William L. Foehner, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada Application April 3, 1958, Serial No. 726,155 9 Claims. C1. 336) My invention relates to improvements in crib blankets and in particular to a blanket of this kind having attachment means by which it is secured to the body of a baby in order that the bed covers may not be thrown off by the child.

It is an object of my invention to provide a crib blanket of an improved construction comprising a harness by which the blanket is readily secured to a baby below its arms and about its body in such a way that the child has unhampered body and arm movements, the harness operating to preclude the cover or covers from becoming displaced, regardless of how the child may move or squirm when awake or asleep. A feature of the harness is that it embodies a band which is fastened about the child and is attached intermediate of its length to the blanket whereby the blanket properly covers the child and may not undesirably creep up, but is maintained in covering relation over the childs body at all times and regardless of how the child may lie in the crib.

Still another important object of my invention is to providea crib blanket of the kind referred to in which the top intermediate portion of the blanket is cut away to provide an indentation bounded by a bottom edge and side edges. The bottom edge portion has a body band of the harness applied to it and the part of the top portion of the blanket flanking the indentation provide wrapping wings which are folded about the body of the child and secured at its back so that the child has its body loosely but securely surrounded by the top portion of the blanket with the ends of the wrapping wings detachably secured to each other and also desirably to the body band of the harness. According to this arrangement, the child is amply covered, but with its arms uncovered and not restricted by the coverage in any way.

My invention provides an improved crib blanket which maintains desirable coverage for a child reposing in a crib and affords complete freedom of natural movement and, at the same time, provides a full measure of safety. It does not preclude a baby from turning onto its stomach from a recumbent position, and, as a matter of fact, the blanket can be attached to the child in a manner to accommodate its sleeping in a recumbent attitude. Another desirable feature is that the child may be lifted from the crib while the blanket is attached to the child so that the cover is not unduly disturbed even though the child may be taken away from the crib.

Having described the major objects and advantages of my invention, subsidiary objects and advantages will appear as the invention is described in detail, having reference to the ensuing specification and the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a view of the improved blanket spread out flat and showing its inner side to which the harness is attached;

Fig. 2 depicts the manner in which the blanket is applied to a child reposing in a crib; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the blanket,

showing the harness in the position which it assumes when applied to the body of a child and also showing how the wrapping wings of the blanket are folded and connected.

The blanket of my invention comprises a body 1 of a general rectangular configuration and made of ordinary blanket material. The lower corners are desirably supplied with customary straps indicated at 2, having conventional separable fasteners 3 by which the straps can be attached to upright members of the crib railing, such as the posts 4. These straps do not, of course, form a part of the inventionas such expedients are well known in the art. I

The upper edge portion 4 of the body 1 is cut away intermediate of the width of the same to provide a sub stantial indentation 5 which is shown as of a greater breadth than depth and is bounded by the straight bottom margin 6 extended parallelly to said upper edge portion 4 and merged into side margins 7 which are somewhat divergent-see Fig. 1.

The indentation 5 defines a pair of flanking wrapping wings 8, 8, which desirably have straight end portions 9. The configuration of the body of the blanket, as above described, will be clearly seen from an inspection of Figure 1, in which the blanket body is spread out flat. The end portions 9 of the wrapping wings are each supplied with a pair of spaced fastening elements indicated at 10,

which may be of the well-known snap fastener variety.

The use to which these separable fasteners are put will be dealt with later.

Having recounted the structure of the body of the blanket, the harness device will now be recounted. This comprises a body band 11 and shoulder straps 12. The body band and the shoulder straps are desirably integrated asa unit, and may be made of the same material of which the blanket is fashioned, but this is optional, and it is not intended to restrict the invention in this regard.

The body band is a narrow, flat member of a suitable length to encompass the body of a baby and has at its ends an approved form of attachment means by which the ends maybe secured together in a releasable manner. This is shown by way of example but not of limitation as made up of tie strings 13. The body band has its intermediate section 14 sewn to the inner face of the body 1 of the blanket as by stitching, indicated at 15. Section 14 of the band may be regarded as a back. extent, which is arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin 6 bordering the bottom extent of the indentation 5. The back section which is secured by the stitching leaves the ends of the body band free for placement about the body of the baby below the arms of the child. Accordingly, it will be understood that in the recumbent position of a baby in a crib, the attached section 14 on the body band will reside over the chest portion with the free ends passing around the body of the child and secured at its back as by the tie strings.

The shoulder straps 12 are desirable, since they cooperate with the body band in-more firmly attaching the blanket. These shoulder straps are adapted to extend over the shoulders of the child and an end part of each is secured to the intermediate section 14 of the bodyband desirably by stitching as indicated at 16. It will. be understood, of course, that other expedients may be resorted to, in order to fasten these ends of the shoulder,

Here again, other approved means may be resorted to for securing this end of the shoulder strap in lieu of the stitching. Snap fastener elements indicated at 17 are provided on the free ends of the bodyband, complementary to the inner set of snap fastener elements on the wrapping wings 8.

In the use of the blanket it is applied to a child by placing it in a covering attitude at the front of the child with the harness fitting on the child and secured by the tie strings 13. The wrapping wings 8 are folded about the back of the child loosely and with the inner set of separable fasteners engaged with a fastener 17 on the ends of the body band and with the outer set of fasteners 10 engaged with each other as clearly depicted in Fig. 3. By this arrangement the recumbent child will lie on the bed with the blanket spread and secured at its lower corners to the crib frame as depicted in Fig. 2. The child may toss and turn, but will remain covered and the childs movements will not be hampered by the attached blanket, nor will his freedom of movement be restricted. It will be apparent that the arms will not be covered, but will be exposed above the blanket.

The advantages and utility of the invention will be manifest from the preceding description, and the drawing forming a part thereof. The blanket is inexpensive to manufacture and may be laundered by hand or processed by laundry equipment in approved manner. Having described and ascertained the invention, it will be understood that such changes and variations may be resorted to as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A crib blanket comprising a body having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of its width to provide an indentation, the width of said indentation being greater than its depth and bounded by side margins and a straight bottom margin extended parallel to said upper edge portion, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having end portions, a harness unit including a body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said bottom margin of said indentation, said body band having end parts which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby, fastening means for said end parts of said body band, and means for detachably securing said wrapping wings loosely about the body of the baby.

2. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said bottom margin of said indentation, said body band having end parts which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby, fastening means for said end parts of said body band, and means for detachably securing said wrapping wings loosely about the body of the baby.

3. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, tie strings secured to said end parts of said band for firmly fastening it about the body of the baby, said shoulder straps each having an end stitched to said intermediate section of said body band and having its other end stitched to an end part thereof, and fastening devices for detachably connecting said end portions of said wrapping wings to said free ends of said body band and to each other.

4. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, said shoulder straps carried by said body band, and means for detachably securing said wrapping wings loosely about the body of the baby.

5. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, and means for detachably securing said wrapping wings in enwrapped condition loosely about the body of the baby.

6. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rec'- tangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, said shoulder straps each having an end stitched to said intermediate section of said body band and having its other end stitched to an end part thereof, means for separably securing said wrapping wings in enwrapped condition loosely about the body of the baby.

7. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit includ ing a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, said shoulder straps each having an end stitched to said intermediate section of said body band and having its other end stitched to an end part thereof, fastening devices separably connecting said end portions of said wrapping wings to said free ends of said body band.

8. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate of the Width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relatively free for placement about the body of a baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, said shoulder straps each having an end stitched to said intermediate section of said body band and having its other end stitched to an end part thereof, fastening devices stg-arable connecting said end portions of said wrapping wings to each other.

9. A crib blanket comprising a body of a general rectangular configuration having an upper edge portion cut away intermediate or the width thereof to provide an indentation of a greater breadth than depth and bounded by a straight bottom margin extended parallelly to said upper edge portion and by divergent side margins, said indentation defining a pair of flanking wrapping wings having straight end portions which merge with said divergent side margins respectively, a harness unit including a body band and shoulder straps, said body band having an intermediate section secured to said blanket body at the inner side thereof as by stitching and arranged adjacent to and parallel with said straight bottom margin of said indentation, there being end parts of said body band which are relativeiy free for placement about the body of a. baby and under its arms, fastening means for said end parts of the band, said shoulder straps each having an end stitched to said intermediate section of said body band and having its other end stitched to an end part thereof, and fastening devices for detachably connecting said end portions of said wrapping wings to said free ends of said body band and to each other.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,102,408 Hubner July 7, 1914 2,399,782 Asher May 7, 1946 

